adventures in egg dyeing

This year marked the first time we attempted to dye Easter eggs with Daniel.  We were nervous... enough so that we all changed into old clothes before we got started.  But surprisingly, it went quite well!

He was SO excited to get going that many of the eggs got tossed (not too softly) into the cups.  There were a few cracks, but nothing disastrous. 

Benjamin observed from the safe vantage point of his highchair (with the ever-present Cheerios to keep him occupied).  Maybe next year he can help too.

Daniel was fascinated by the process of dyeing an egg two different colors.

When Ben got tired of watching, he was rescued by Papa who gave him a balloon to play with! 

Of course, fingers were dyed too. 

The finished products! 

egg hunt fun

The church near our house has an annual Easter EGG-stravaganza at the local park.  We went last year and had lots of fun, so of course we had to go back this year and bring Papa, Grandma, and Lala with us!  (Thanks to Rita for all the pictures!!)

Daniel got into the egg-hunting this year.  Last year he was a little young, but he definitely knew what to do this time.  Although he kept getting so focused on a particular egg that he'd run by other ones on the way...

Benjamin joined in on the fun too.  He was thrilled with this orange egg with the racing stripes.  Until he spotted another one hiding in the tree... (okay, he may have had a little help for that one). 

Who needs candy?  The eggs are pretty good by themselves!

Checking out the loot!

Ben got to meet the Easter Bunny, and he was rather taken with the bunny's furry cheeks.  We spared Daniel the trauma of an encounter - as you may remember, he's not so much a fan of large costumed creatures.

Daniel got to hold and pet a REAL bunny, which was much more fun. 

In addition to all that, there were also games!  Daniel had so much fun digging for dinosaur eggs and choosing lollipops.  We're happy to make this egg hunt an annual tradition!

trick or treat!

Daniel's first trick-or-treating experience was a success! It was a rainy Halloween, but my little turtle couldn't wait to get out there and get some CANDY!  Daddy braved the rain to take him to a few houses down our street. 

Benjamin and I stayed home to greet the trick-or-treaters and to chew on a hammer (Benjamin) and eat too many Butterfingers (me).

Benjamin did get dressed up too, though - here are my bat and my turtle!

Daniel also had a dragon costume, which was very cute and fit him better than the slightly-too-small turtle, but he would have none of it.  We really tried to get him to put the dragon outfit on, even just for a picture, but he threw a tamtrum of epic proportions, crying "MY NO WEAR DAT!" so we gave up.  He's got a little bit of an obsession with turtles. 

Daniel was pretty excited to dig into his stash of candy, so he topped the evening off with a grape Tootsie Pop, or as he prefers to call it, a Lala-pop.

Happy Halloween!

pumpkin carving

This was Daniel's first year to help with pumpkin carving, and boy did he have a good time!  After only slight hesitation, he dug his hands in to help clean out the pumpkins that we had picked out.

Pumpkin goop is fun! 

Unfortunately, Benjamin was not really able to participate in the carving, but he observed from the sidelines. I think he approves!  (Actually, he just thinks anything Daniel does is hilarious.)  I just love this smile!

Messy hands...

Helping Daddy poke the eyes out.

Have I mentioned that Benjamin is teething?  In fact, his first tooth (bottom left) popped through earlier this week!  I'm trying to get a picture of it, but that's easier said than done. It's just barely through the gums, so it's still pretty hard to see.  I'm pretty sure tooth #2 is on the way though, if his constant chewing on anything that comes close to his mouth is any indication. He liked this position for observing the pumpkin carving from his highchair.

Daniel wanted to pose with his handiwork.

The final products, ready and waiting for trick-or-treaters to come tomorrow!

our annual trip to the farm

Two years in a row officially makes it an annual trip! Once again, we visited Cagle's Dairy this year. (To see last year's trip, click here.)

Once again, we did the dairy tour - I wish we had a picture like this one from last year so we could compare, but as you can see Daniel is almost 3 feet tall!

Daniel had so much fun feeding the calves!  They weren't too hungry (I think they get fed quite a bit...) but they were adorable nonetheless.

We managed to get a little family picture thanks to our friendly hayride tour guide!

Something must have been awfully interesting to capture Mike and Benjamin's attention!  Ben had a good time hanging out with Dad for the first half of the day, and Mom for the second half!

Next we got to feed the goats. Unlike the cows, they were more than willing to take food from us!  Daniel got really good at keeping his hand open so they could eat.

A feature of the farm that we didn't try out last year was their jumping pillow.  It's kind of like a big trampoline anchored into the ground.  Daniel has recently learned to jump and actually get his feet off the ground (which is harder than you might think). He was hesitant of the jumping pillow at first, but soon thought it was the most fun he'd ever had!  We finally had to drag him away.  Oh, and this was the little kids' jumping pillow - there was a much larger one for older kids and adults. 

Luckily we did have a way to lure Daniel away from the jumping pillow - a giant hay-bale spider! (Poor tired Benjamin had passed out by this point.)

No, the real lure was PUMPKINS! 

Now the question: what is the easiest way to pick up the pumpkin? (I think the stem eventually won.)

So many pumpkins, so little time...

first easter egg hunt

On the day before Easter, we went to a neighborhood Easter egg hunt. Despite a cool, cloudy day, we all had a lot of fun. Daniel got to meet the Easter Bunny... however, this was not his favorite part of the day.

He pretty quickly got the hang of hunting for eggs! Luckily, the egg hunt was split into different sections for different ages, so Daniel didn't get run over by the big kids and he managed to snag several eggs.


He was pretty excited to open the eggs and see what was inside, but he really had no interest in eating the candy (which was lucky because most of it was chocolate, which we're trying to stay away from because of his milk allergy). We brought a few decoy eggs full of Teddy Grahams and raisins, and he was much more eager to get into those!

Daniel also had the pleasure of meeting Buzz, the Georgia Tech mascot, who also stopped by the egg hunt. The Easter Bunny shouldn't feel bad, because Daniel was no more a fan of Buzz than he was of the Bunny.

Guess we'll have to stay away from oversized fuzzy creatures for awhile!

christmas day!

We had an absolutely wonderful Christmas, with Papa, Grandma, and Great-Grandpa all here to celebrate with us. Daniel is too young to really 'get' what Christmas is all about (or to understand why there was a pile of presents under the tree), but he was excited because we were all excited.

We went to church on Christmas eve, but somehow neglected to get a picture of Daniel all dressed up. Oh well! On Christmas day he pretty much stayed in his pajamas all day long.

Our lovely tree and stacks of gifts, before the destruction began. Yes, there were LOTS of gifts, and yes, most of them were for Daniel!
Daniel trying out his first gift, a table and chairs from Santa, just his size. He LOVES them. It took him no time at all to climb right up in the chair.
He got a rocking horse from Papa and Grandma. Another hit!
Coloring with Papa at his new table, with his new crayons. They're triangular so they don't roll off the table. I think this is brilliant and I wish I'd thought of it.
Helping Dad open a gift.
Playing with his new truck (and looking a little dazed at this point).
Trying on a sweatshirt.
The legos were another hit, as much with Dad and Mom as with Daniel (yeah, we're engineers, we can't help it).
Completely overwhelmed at this point. What a fun day!